This should be an exciting day as Dolphin fans worldwide await two welcome pieces of news.

One, the firing of Joe Philbin should be inexorable.

Two, the excitement of who our new head coach will be should be filling all the comment boards and talk radio stations everywhere.

sr-grinch
Stephen Ross gave us loyal fans a lump of coal for Christmas by bringing back Joe Philbin. Why does Ross reward Joe Philbin and reward the other AFC East teams, but he punishes his most loyal players?

However, there is to be no excitement whatsoever for the Dolphins fans, and especially not their players.

In true Joe Philbin form, he lost a game to a terrible, last-place team.   And in true Stephen Ross form, Philbin will be rewarded for this failure.

No, I don’t blame Philbin for the lack of defense and special teams today.  But I do blame Philbin for his usual batch of incorrect and inconsistent decisions.

Philbin refused to go for it on 4th and one.  He refused to go for it on fourth and two.  But he did go for it on fourth and five.

Inconsistent?  Without a doubt.

Incorrect?  The final score answers that for you.

Philbin is simply an atrocious game manager.  It began today with Philbin winning the toss and choosing to receive, which he shied away from all year long.  Why choose today to be inconsistent?  The man is inept, yet we’re stuck with him.

AND NOW WE LEAVE YOU WITH THE DOLPHINS’ FINAL SCORE OF 2014

21 Comments

  1. Couldn’t have said it any better. Philbin, fresh off his vote of confidence, benches Mike Wallace for the second half. Sure Joe, that gives us the best chance of winning. There is no way in hell Philbin would do that if he was coaching for his job today.

    It’s taken me 30 years of being a fan to finally call it like I see it. I think that we can beat any team and would never say otherwise out loud, for superstition sake.

    Before the season, many people predicted 8-8 for this team and I thought they were not being “positive”. Boy, was I wrong. Those people had already arrived at the place I now find myself in- fed up, disgusted, and wanting so much more for my team.

    Calling it like you see it isn’t being a bad fan, I know this now. There is no way this team wins 8 games next year- not with as many holes as we have, and certainly not with Philbin back at the helm.

    Sure, he’s fire Coyle (under pressure, the same way Sherman had to go) and he’ll get some position coach looking to become a coordinator because any legit candidate will avoid Philbin like the plague.

    In a way I am glad we lost because those 3 draft spots will matter. This year it would have meant a stud like CJ Mosley. That’s no knock on James, but one is a game changer, one is decent/above average.

    Ross is clearly more interested in angling this team toward London (we’re the only team that actually volunteers to go each year) and couldn’t care less about a fan base in a city he has no ties to.

    I guess Ross did me a favor- while I still love the Dolphins and always will, it’s more of a tough love now. I’ll still watch them when they are on TV (I’m in Tampa, not Miami) but I won’t go out of my way and subject my family to 3+ hours at a sports bar on Sundays anymore, and I certainly won’t plan my weekends around games anymore.

    I won’t bother watching games that I know they won’t win (a concept I would have never even thought before, let alone said out loud). You know, the games that actually matter. This team is clearly allergic to the playoffs.

    Well fellow Dolfans- Have a very Happy New Year. My new year’s resolution is to never allow myself to feel the way I feel right now- the same way I have felt for the last 5 years…..

    F*ck you Joe Philbin, F*ck you Stephen Ross….

  2. Author

    Big Jim, thanks for the tidbit about Philbin benching Mike Wallace. Philbin stubbornly says “I put the best men out there” all the time. Now we know what a liar he is. I did not notice Wallace on the bench, because I was too busy writing during the game about Philbin’s other (many) mistakes.

    1. Author

      Mike Wallace, our best player…who’s been making miraculous catches the last few weeks…gets benched. Another sound decision by clueless Joe.

  3. Check out the Palm Beach post article- Philbin and Wallace went at it at halftime. Philbin benched Wallace (and I think he stayed in the locker room). After the game, Brandon Gibson answered questions on Wallace’s behalf. Seriously, I can’t make this sh*t up….

    http://dailydolphin.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2014/12/28/dolphins-bench-mike-wallace-brandon-gibson-speaks-for-him-in-bizarre-press-conference/

    Now, you see what Philbin is all about. If you were a FA, would you want to play for him?? You know you have no chance at the playoffs, and the SB is out of the question.

    I’m glad to have a guy like Mike Wallace that wants the ball and wants to make plays. How many guys get the money and then don’t care what happens?? At least he wants to help the team.

    He’s right- Patrick Peterson called him and DeSean Jackson the fastest guys in the game (the term he used was “crackhead speed”) and we target him once??

    Think of all the talent Philbin let walk- Brandon Marshall, Dansby, DC$, Sean Smith, Vontae Davis. Clearly, putting the best players on the field is not his priority. Showing people he’s boss at an otherwise impotent stage of his life is….

  4. Author

    How about when Odrick yelled at Philbin a few weeks ago, and Odrick was not benched. The inconsistencies surrounding Joe Philbin’s decisions hurt just as much as the incorrect decisions.

  5. What could Mike have done to get benched for the entire second half of a close game?? You can’t tell me that the team actually respects Joe Philbin. He looks like a moron and I am sure the team is well aware of how he holds them back. Coyle will be this year’s scapegoat, just like Ireland was last year.

    If Ross watched today’s game and still thinks that Philbin has this team headed in the right direction then he’s a fool, and you can’t be that rich and also be a fool.

    I’m sorry, but the stereotype is true (for the most part)-jews are cheap. Look at what the Glazers did with the Bucs for all these years….

    1. Author

      I will say Ross is inept and cares way too much about non-Dolphin endeavors. But I don’t see why he is cheap?
      Keeping Philbin is not cheap, it’s simply unwise.
      Meanwhile Jim Harbaugh has been released, and Stephen Ross won’t even try for him. Pathetic

    2. I couldn’t agree more with everything you said. Ross is a moron and spends more time in Manhattan than Miami. And fans who believe that Trannyhill is our QB of the future are also morons.

      It’s very sad to see this franchise in the toilet bowl like this. How Don Shula and Dan Marino can allow themselves to be associated with this buffoonery is beyond me.

      Geno Smith looked like a cross between Warren Moon and Dan Fouts today. Eric Decker looked like Steve Largent.

      1. Author

        I don’t think that Tannehill is as bad as you do, and we can disagree on that point. But you are so right about Ross. The Dolphins are a hobby for him while he spends his days in NY.

        1. Tannehill looks like gangbusters between the 20s with a clean pocket, but in the red zone and when pressure is turned up, he reverts to his 2012 form. Nothing has changed. I’ve been watching football since the 70s and trust me, Tannehill will never be more than a 8-9 win QB. Some fans are satisfied with that.

      2. Been a Dolphins fan since the good old days of Griese and company and this organization needs a major overhaul beginning with the owner firing himself and selling the team to another billionaire who has the competitive fire and LOVES football! Ross is our biggest problem! How in the Sam Hill do you give an coach with this record and lack luster performances another year?!?!? And without waiting to see which coaches become available??? I don’t get this and you local fans need to really and truly Boycott!

        1. I said the same thing last year, and a little bit the year before. At first, it sounds nice when Ross says that Philbin is the right man for the job. What then I started to wonder, what are Ross’s qualifications to evaluation a professional coach’s credentials. Real Estates guys don’t know anything about coaching a pro team, and Ross has proven it.

  6. It’s cheap because Philbin has a year left on his contract. If Ross fires him, he still has to pay Philbin, plus whoever replaces him, meaning he’s on the hook for 2 salaries next year.

    Once Ross got wind that Harbaugh wasn’t interested, he made the mistake of endorsing Philbin.

    If I remember correctly, he did the same thing with Ireland, and endorsed him too, only to fire him once things got too toxic between him, Philbin and Aponte.

    It’s really a sad state of affairs in MIA. Even crappy teams like BUF and CLE have made strides. Heck, you could even argue that we have just as much talent, if not more than both KC and SD.

    Philbin is a terrible game manager, has no identity on offense or defense, and his players have no respect for him (as evidenced by last year’s Incognito debacle) yet he still has a highly coveted job.

    It will be interesting to see if Ross extends Philbin’s contract. It’s almost unheard of for a coach to go play out his final year with no extension, thus the term “lame duck”.

    Since Ross isn’t a traditional football guy (coming from corp world) he might try to avoid the extension- the right move in the corp world. This, however, will backfire (just like talking to Harbaugh did a few years ago) and keep quality coaches from ever coming to MIA.

    The sh*t cycle only continues….

    1. Author

      A few years back, Bill Parcells said there was no way he would ever trade Jason Taylor. A few days later, Parcells traded Jason Taylor to the Redskins.
      Then Nick Saban said he was not leaving and said he was not in contact with Alabama. A few days later, he was gone. To Alabama.
      Dolphins leadership has a habit of lying to us fans. Let’s hope and pray that Ross’s vote of confidence toward Philbin was another lie too.

  7. Ross is a bird brain and looks remarkably similar to Greenspan. Philbin is a zombie wearing a headset. Trannyhill is nothing more than an athletic game manager who refuses to use his athleticism to keep plays alive, instead curling up in the fetal position whenever the pocket collapses. Wallace is a petulant, overpaid head case. Coyle is probably the absolute worst defensive coordinator not named Jim Haslett.

    Add it all up and you have yet another 8-8 season. I predicted this. I expected this. I don’t see much changing in 2015. When you can’t admit that change is needed, very seldom does positive result from the current situation.

  8. Here’s a thought-

    Ross is way too rich and smart and to be this oblivious. Could keeping Philbin be Ross’ way of getting back at South FLA for not putting up some money for renovations to Joe Robbie stadium (or whatever they’re calling it these days)??

    Think about it- he was pretty pissed when the FL legislature wouldn’t even bring it up for a vote before they went on hiatus. He even publicly called out State Rep Mike Fasano.

    I wonder if this his not so subtle middle finger back to the folks of Miami for not putting up some cash. Just a thought….

    1. Author

      Gut reaction is to say that Ross can’t be that bitter….but yet, you have a possible point.

  9. Apparently , Mike Wallace benched himself because he wasn’t being thrown the ball downfield. Since Tannehill had a Jet hanging over him on every play because the Oline cant block, Wallace’s complaint is baseless. Get rid of this me first cancer.

    1. Author

      Coyote, we can’t afford to get rid of a guy who made two incredible catches the last two weeks. It’s not his fault that Tannehill was taught to look for Jarvis Landry every single play. I don’t like if Wallace mouthed off, but I don’t blame his frustration either.

      1. Admin, it looks like Wallace quit on the team, and he was not benched at all. He is a fine player but a poor attitude if that is true.

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